A Plymouth Notch Inauguration and a Surprise Adventure
In June 1923, two years after Calvin Coolidge became vice president of the United States, President Warren G. Harding began what he called a Voyage of Understanding across the country. He traveled all the way to Alaska and Canada, and then to California. In late July, the president became ill. On August 2, 1923, he was in San Francisco and felt much better that day. However, at about 11:30 Eastern (7:30 Pacific) on August 2, 1923, he passed away suddenly in his hotel room while his wife was reading him the newspaper.
Calvin and Grace Coolidge were visiting his father in Plymouth Notch, Vermont. Their older son Calvin Jr. was working in tobacco fields in Hatfield, Massachusetts, and their younger son John was at a military camp.
Getting the news about Harding to Vice President Coolidge was a challenge. Coolidge’s father, John Coolidge, had no telephone. He didn’t approve of electricity so he didn’t have that either. The only phone in Plymouth Notch was in the general store, which was closed (John Coolidge had sold the store by that time). President Harding’s secretary sent a telegram to Coolidge. The telegram arrived at White River Junction, which was 29 miles away because it was the only Western Union office in the area which was still open. From there a phone message was sent to Bridgewater, about 11 miles from the Notch. When the phone operator in Bridgewater couldn’t get a call through to the only phone in Plymouth Notch, she sent her husband to deliver the message in his Model T. He awakened the keeper of the general store, who walked across the street with him, where he pounded on the door. John Coolidge came to the door.
Mr. Coolidge then walked upstairs and awakened his son to tell him that he was now the president of the United States.
A bedroom in the Coolidge home in Plymouth Notch
The vice president and his wife prayed, dressed, and went downstairs. He sent a telegram of condolence to Mrs. Harding. He looked in the Constitution to be sure he took the oath legally. He called Secretary of State Charles Evans Hughes to be sure. All agreed that the vice president’s father could administer the oath because he was a notary public. The vice president, his wife, his father, and other witnesses gathered in the Coolidge parlor.
Coolidge parlor
At exactly 2:47 a.m., 79-year-old John Coolidge raised his right hand and read the oath of office to his son. Calvin Coolidge raised his right hand and placed his left hand beside his mother’s Bible and repeated the oath, becoming the 30th president of the United States.
Artist’s depiction of the scene
In the tiny hamlet of Plymouth Notch, Vermont, at exactly 2:47 a.m. on August 3, 2023, Christopher Coolidge Jeter (great-grandson of Calvin Coolidge) and Jennifer Coolidge Harville (Coolidge’s great-granddaughter) reenacted the event that took place August 3, 1923, with former Vermont governor, James H. Douglas, portraying Coolidge’s father.
Our daughter Mary Evelyn Notgrass McCurdy and her family peeked through the window of the parlor and watched the reenactment. They watched a second reenactment which took place immediately afterwards on the front porch of the Coolidge home. They had traveled there to enjoy the celebration and also for Mary Evelyn to portray Grace Coolidge at two of its events.
Mary Evelyn Notgrass McCurdy as First Lady Grace Coolidge
Mary Evelyn sang the 1924 Coolidge campaign song, “Keep Cool and Keep Coolidge,” at the annual meeting of the Calvin Coolidge Presidential Foundation inside the hamlet’s Union Christian Church on August 2. She also told anecdotes about the Coolidges in a program called “Grace Coolidge Remembers.” That event took place on the front porch of the Coolidge home.
Union Christian Church
She also attended the Coolidge Centennial Gala. She met great-grandchildren of Calvin and Grace Coolidge and also longtime columnist Cal Thomas. These photos of Mary Evelyn were taken during the Coolidge Centennial celebration.
In front of the store
On the porch of the Coolidge home with Tracy Messer,
a Coolidge relative, who is a member of the staff at the historic site, who
bears a striking resemblance to President Coolidge and sometimes portrays him
Mary Evelyn first became interested in President Coolidge during an independent study of each president while she was homeschooled. She came to have great respect for his character and asked to visit his birthplace on her senior trip. We had a wonderful visit there after her graduation from homeschool.
Mary Evelyn has continued to keep up with news from the President Calvin Coolidge State Historic Site in Plymouth Notch and the Calvin Coolidge Presidential Foundation. When she heard of the plans for the inauguration centennial, she wrote to organizers and offered to portray Grace Coolidge, which she had never done before, and to sing the song. We are so proud of her. She’s got gumption, which we all learned from my mother and my mother’s mother, by the way.
You never know where a homeschool experience will lead your children. I am grateful that one of Mary Evelyn’s homeschool experiences introduced her to this man of integrity.
O Lord, who may abide in Your tent?
Who may dwell on Your holy hill?
He who walks with integrity, and works righteousness,
And speaks truth in his heart.
Psalm 15:1-2
To read Charlene’s entire series on Calvin Coolidge, click here.
Photos are courtesy of the Library of Congress and the McCurdy family.